Is Your Twitter Movie as Good as Your Trailer?

"Loved the trailer, hated the movie" is a sad truth that happens everyday. I've been having a similar experience with a new Twitter connection.

Some initial tweets intrigued me enough to check out the Twitterer's Website. What I found were blogposts and trend stories focused on giving me a direct line to teen thoughts throughout the college counseling and admission process. While there are other sources for such information, I immediately fell in love with this site. I was wowed by its look and feel and the story behind it. Best of all the person who launched the site is a young and successful college admissions consultant. I was delighted by the whole package: relevance to me and my work, an appealing and distinctive look and feel, and credibility.

But to continue the movie metaphor, not only does my new source's Twitter feed not deliver on my hopes for a great film, sometimes I wonder if I've stumbled into the wrong theater. Rather than getting the inside teen scoop I was hoping for, I get a flurry of news headlines often having little to do with admissions at all. And the voice on the site is mute on the feed.

In her "5 Common Sense Twitter Tips To Keeping It Real On Twitter", CarolAnn Bailey-Lloyd counsels Twitterers to be clear about their goals. If your Twitter agenda is professional, give consumers value and "provide quality and relative information regarding your product (or service). "

How do you determine that value and relativity? It's a question I'm constantly trying to answer in my own feed. Because when people click "follow" they've bought a ticket to your show. And we all know it's easier to make a great trailer than it is to make a great movie.

The end of the story is that I'd just about given up on my new-found Twitter connection when into my feed today came a real gem of information. I'm such a sucker that I fell in love with the brand all over again. I decided -- at least for now -- it had been worth sitting through the movie for that one great scene.